History Main / UnscrewedSaltShaker

* Used to a lethal effect in the Polish comedy ''Film/{{Kiler}}''. The titular protagonist tries to salt his soup in the prison cafeteria, but the lid falls into the bowl. The prison bully, Uszat, [[EnemyEatsYourLunch promptly grabs the bowls and pours the entire contents into his mouth]], then dies by choking on the lid. This promptly elevates Kiler to a MemeticBadass status among the prisoners.

* ''[[Franchise/HelloKitty Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals]]'': Tracy, Kitty's raccoon friend, apparently loosened the salt shaker lids in the Sushi restaurant. He tells Kitty not to use the salt shakers at the Sushi Restaurant because of this, and Kathy (the rabbit) had noticed, as well.

An annoying prank in restaurants, wherein the top of a salt shaker is unscrewed and left loosely sitting on top. The next person to attempt to use it will unexpectedly get an entire jar-full of salt all over their food.

The combination of being a DiscreditedTrope and the [[DudeNotFunny harsh effect of ruining someone's entire meal for a cheap laugh]] means this prank usually doesn't get a very good reception, unless the target is particularly unpopular. It can also be used to establish that EvilIsPetty.

[[folder: Film]]

* Done with a pepper shaker in ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'', as a nervous Ichabod is sprinkling it on a hard-boiled egg, and after he eats it [[FireBreathingDiner fire and smoke comes out of his mouth]].

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unscrewed_salt_shaker.png]]]]

* ''[[Franchise/HelloKitty Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals]]'': Tracy, Kitty’s raccoon friend, apparently loosened the salt shaker lids in the Sushi restaurant. He tells Kitty not to use the salt shakers at the Sushi Restaurant because of this, and Kathy (the rabbit) had noticed, as well.

[[caption-width-right:350:Yeah, [[SarcasmMode really funny Garfield]]]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Done in one episode of ''Series/TheSopranos'' to Tony by one of his [[YourCheatingHeart girlfriends]].

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Used to a lethal effect in the Polish comedy ''Kiler''. The titular protagonist tries to salt his soup in the prison cafeteria, but the lid falls into the bowl. The prison bully, Uszat, [[EnemyEatsYourLunch promptly grabs the bowls and pours the entire contents into his mouth]], then dies by choking on the lid. This promptly elevates Kiler to a MemeticBadass status among the prisoners.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E11FearOfFlying One episode]], Homer pranks Moe with this, as everyone else is joking around too (by lighting him on fire, or hiding a cobra in his till). [[SelectiveEnforcement He's banned]] for the rest of the episode for [[DeliberateValuesDissonance taking things too far]].[[note]]And used to be the TropeNamer for ''that'' trope.[[/note]]
** In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS30E12TheGirlOnTheBus another episode]], Bart pulls this prank on Homer during dinner. Homer doesn't want to give Bart the satisfaction, and tries to finish his meal with all the salt included.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama Action]]'', the episode “Beach Blanket Bogus” has Duncan pranking Trent by unscrewing the salt shaker he was about to use, so that Trent spills salt all over his eggs and ruins his breakfast.

* [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E11FearOfFlying One episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had Homer pranking Moe with this, as everyone else is joking around too (by lighting him on fire, or hiding a cobra in his till). [[SelectiveEnforcement He's banned]] for the rest of the episode for [[DeliberateValuesDissonance taking things too far]].[[note]]And used to be the TropeNamer for ''that'' trope.[[/note]]

* ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} does the old unscrew-the-salt-shaker trick as part of a series of pranks to completely ruin Jon's dinner in an early strip.

%%[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
%%* ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} does this as part of a series of pranks to completely ruin Jon's dinner in an early strip.
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%%[[folder: Web Comics ]]
%%* In ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily's'' VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Super Star 8-mini-strip special, %%[[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/2008/09/24/082-super-star/ Revenge of Meta Knight]] was him pulling this prank on Kirby.
%%[[/folder]]

* [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E11FearOfFlying One episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had Homer pranking Moe with this, as everyone else is joking around too (by lighting him on fire, or hiding a cobra in his till). [[SelectiveEnforcement He's banned]] for the rest of the episode for [[ValuesDissonance taking things too far]].[[note]]And used to be the TropeNamer for ''that'' trope.[[/note]]

* In Film/{{Daredevil}}, Matt's colleague is irritated with him and hands him the mustard instead of honey. Matt plays along squirting the mustard into his cup, but promptly swaps them as soon as Franklin is looking elsewhere.

* Series/MrBean does this in one of the episodes. Bonus points as the guy he does it to looks like he can break Bean in half.
* Done on ''Series/FullHouse'' by a friend of Stephanie's. Everyone blames Joey because he pulled the same stunt at Sizzler.

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
* ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} does this as part of a series of pranks to completely ruin Jon's dinner in an early strip.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]
* In ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily's'' VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Super Star 8-mini-strip special, [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/2008/09/24/082-super-star/ Revenge of Meta Knight]] was him pulling this prank on Kirby.
[[/folder]]

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama Action]]'', Duncan does it to Trent as a prank.

* ''[[Franchise/HelloKitty Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals]]'': Tracy, Kitty’s raccoon friend, apparently did this in the Sushi restaurant. He tells Kitty not to use the salt shakers at the Sushi Restaurant because of this, and Kathy (the rabbit) had noticed, as well.

* Done with a pepper shaker in ''Disney/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'', as a nervous Ichabod is sprinkling it on a hard-boiled egg, and after he eats it [[FireBreathingDiner fire and smoke comes out of his mouth]].

An annoying prank in restaurants, wherein the top of a salt shaker is unscrewed and left loosely sitting on top. The next person to attempt to use it will unexpectedly get an entire jar-fall of salt all over their food.

The combination of [[DiscreditedTrope being a total cliché]] and the harsh effect of ruining someone's entire meal for a cheap laugh means this prank usually doesn't get a very good reception, unless the target is particularly unpopular. It can also be used to establish that EvilIsPetty.

* Done by Creator/LaurelAndHardy in ''You're Darn Tootin[='=]''. Stan, unable to get any salt out of the shaker, unscrews the top. Then Ollie tries to use the shaker, not realising what has happened, and the entire contents end up in his soup. He promptly changes plates with Stan, only for the whole process to be repeated with the pepper.

* Inverted with the Observers on ''Series/{{Fringe}}''. September deliberately unscrews the top of the pepper shaker, and then proceeds to dump the contents onto his plate of food. Apparently they have extremely dulled taste buds. (And iron cast stomachs.)

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has [[ThePrankster Sans]] doing this to you if you accept his offer of ketchup for your food at Grillby's. He's a good enough sport to give you his lunch after yours gets drenched in ketchup thanks to his prank. If you don't accept the initial offer, he just chugs the bottle of ketchup all in one go instead.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals}}'': Tracy, Kitty’s raccoon friend, apparently did this in the Sushi restaurant. He tells Kitty not to use the salt shakers at the Sushi Restaurant because of this, and Kathy (the rabbit) had noticed, as well.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had Homer pranking Moe with this, as everyone else is joking around too (by lighting him on fire, or hiding a cobra in his till). [[SelectiveEnforcement He's banned]] for the rest of the episode for [[ValuesDissonance taking things too far]].[[note]]And used to be the TropeNamer for ''that'' trope.[[/note]]

* “VideoGame/{{Hello Kitty: Happy Party Pals}} : Tracy, Kitty’s raccoon friend, apparently did this in the Sushi restaurant. He tells Kitty not to use the salt shakers at the Sushi Restaurant because of this, and Kathy (the rabbit) had noticed, as well.